


Connie and the Beast

by SlightlyObsessedwithStories



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast Elements, Corrupted Steven Universe, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I'll add more tags as this updates, Mild Blood, Strangers to Friends, no Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-12-17 17:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21058508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlightlyObsessedwithStories/pseuds/SlightlyObsessedwithStories
Summary: It’s a Beauty and the Beast AU with Connie and corrupted Steven because why not?





	1. Once Upon a Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prologue to this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time doing anything like this.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the prologue.

Once upon a time, in a far away planet, lived a quartz named Rose. She was happy with the friends she has, but she has always kept many secrets from them. The biggest one? She was a princess in disguise, running away from her family.

One cold and stormy night, three ethereal diamonds were on her doorstep. She recognized them immediately as her old family and wanted nothing to do with them, so she tried to make them leave.

They said they were looking for their princess for she had been missing for a long time and they only wanted to check her castle, in exchange they would give her an enchanted rose.

But Rose refused and yelled at them to leave. Just as she was about to slam the door, three hands grabbed her.

“We know who you are Rose Quartz!”, they all said simultaneously.“You are the one who took our sweet princess from us, so you and everyone you care about will suffer a curse that will last for millennia!”

Before Rose could react a beam of blinding white light surrounded her and her castle. She could feel herself changing shape and form until the light was gone and only the tallest of the diamonds remained.

“Oh Starlight”, her cold voice rung through her ears,“Don’t worry this isn’t permanent, if you come back to us we’ll fix you and we'll forget this all ever happened.”

Once again she still refused to go back to them telling her that she would find a way to break their curse.

The diamond laughed and she explained, “ Only when you find someone you trust and love wholeheartedly and they do the same to you. Only then will you be free from the curse.” She vanished right after saying those words leaving only the rose.

An effect of the curse was that not only did her appearance changed, it also amplified her distrust towards gems. She spent years isolating herself from other gems, she would be in her room staring at the rose and into a gem mirror that showed the outside world.

She would rather spend time with the humans of this world. Every time a human managed to stumble by her castle. She would cherish them, but they would leave as soon as they saw her monstrous appearance. 

One faithful day, a human came that didn't run away. He saw her as the most beautiful being on the planet, horns and all. He was the only one after more than 970 years that managed to form a relationship with her.

Friendship blossomed into love and she loved him so much that she wanted to experience the world with him.

But knowing that she could never fully be free as long as she lived. She decided that she would make a new life with Greg.

She hopes that maybe her child wouldn't be affected and thus could live a normal life with someone who loves them.

When the child was born, she was gone and he remained. He was human, but he had a gem where his navel would be and he had the eyes of a diamond with pink irises.

The boy would have a semi-normal childhood living with his father and the past gems who were friends with his mother, but thirteen years passed and one night he dreamed of something.

He was in the castle he always lived in his entire life and for the first time there was a knock on the door.

The innocent teen opened the door wanting to know who could have visited them.

He saw a tall white gem looking past him as if she expected someone else.

She finally looked down to see him. Two black diamond eyes stared at him with disgust.

“What have you done to yourself?!”, she shouted startling the teen.“Just because you're in that form doesn't mean you're free from the curse.”

He was confused and had no idea what she was talking about. He was about to say something, but he felt something affecting his gem.

His body started to turn, spikes and horns appeared on his head and across his body. His body became less human and when it was done he saw her outstretched hand go down.

“Your time's almost up.” her cold voice rang through his ears “When the last rose petal falls, the curse will be permanent. There's no escaping from it now.”

Steven woke up screaming, he had hoped it was just a nightmare, but a look at a mirror solidified that this was real.

The once normal gems explained everything they knew about the curse and how it had a chance for it to be broken.

But Steven was certain that the curse would never be broken now, for who could he trust if everyone he knew has kept secrets from him?


	2. A Quiet Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Connie and see some of the inhabitants of the gem village.

The sun was shining on a quiet gem village. Centuries ago, it had a mixed population of humans and gems both of them living in harmony, but rumors spread among humans and years passed until there were only a few humans in the village.

It was a rare sight to see new faces, maybe they were passing by, maybe they wanted to trade. Every once in a while, a family of humans decide to stay.

It was clear that they were travelers from a distant land. They have trinkets and gadgets never seen before and their names the humans in the village couldn't say at first try.

They were a small family of three, a father and mother who worked hard to support their child, a bright and curious teen named Connie.

They love her, but they were hardly around. Both of them now work in businesses of trading, leaving their daughter behind, alone on most days with her books.

One day, while her parents were off on their month-long trips, she got bored of the same old books in their home and was going to go outside to borrow some from the local library.

She prepared her satchel and got the books she'd borrowed before on gem history. Before she opens the door, she takes a deep breath, turns the handle, and exhales.

When she opened the door, she was met with the bustling morning activities of the gems and humans.

There was noise all around her. There are two bakers carrying bread, one's taller than the other and shouts less harder. A contrast to his partner. There's children chasing each other laughing as they play. A few gems were patrolling the area telling jokes to each other, not really caring about their jobs.

Her head's low, arm's covering her body. She walks past the crowd trying to avoid eye contact. She's done this so many times, but the results are still the same, she almost gets overwhelmed by the shouting and hollering that when she _finally_ reaches the library. She would stay there for a few minutes to catch her breath. Away from the racket of the village.

Her parents once described the village as '_quiet.' _She finds that hard to believe.

A sweet little gem runs the library, she takes a little while to notice that Connie's inside and when she does. Paddy, what Connie calls the orange sapphire, welcomes her with open arms and asks what books she would like to borrow.

Connie justs smiles and puts back the books she borrowed on the desk the gem has and patiently asks for books she could read about this village's history.

The orange gem continues reshelving the books for a few seconds then she stops, the question finally processed.

"I don't think there's anything about this village." She informed her with a shrug.

"What do you mean by that? There _has_ to be something, right? Like a written parchment or those hologram things you gems use." Connie was puzzled, she absentmindedly scratched her head waiting for her answer.

Seconds passed by and she gave her answer, "There's nothing. I've tried before to find something about this place, but even my ability cannot see it. It is as if a fog settles in my mind every time I try to see what happened long ago" Paddy replied a bit distant and sadder than before.

"Wait, what ability _do_ you have?" Connie asked with a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"...I have the ability to see the past. Other sapphires though, can see a future."

"_A_ future?"

Padparadscha spent the next 30 minutes explaining the ways some gems can see the future with Connie taking notes as always.

Connie goes out, after thanking Paddy for her time and sets out to know more about the village she's currently residing when she hears the piercing shrieks of two lapis lazulis.

"Oh. My. Stars! Jasper's back!" The one with the gem on her arm squealed at her partner.

"I know, isn't she amazing? I heard she once fought a beast with her hands tied behind her back." The other blue gem with the gemstone on her navel, sighed dreamily.

From what she remembers from her conversations with Paddy, Jasper used to be the main guard of the village, commanding quartz soldiers left and right. Lately, she's decided to protect the village from danger in a different way.

Connie sees a crowd of gems forming around someone, 'must be Jasper'. She thought, but something else caught her eye.

A glimpse of a cloaked figure, running off into the distance, carrying a basket. The thing she noticed was that the figure was a human she's never seen before and that they're heading straight into the forest.

There were rumors about it, that it was cursed, that no human ever came back from it unscarred, that monsters roamed them, mercilessly attacking anyone that even steps a foot into them.

Well that person just went in and she was curious about _any_ information about this place.

'Curiosity killed the cat' they say.

She hopes that satisfaction would bring her back.

* * *

Surrounded by gems admiring her, you'd think Jasper wouldn't notice the human running toward the woods.

She did. She hopes those beasts get to her.

It would be one less human to deal with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of this fic.  
( Also if you don't mind could you share what furniture you think the gems could be? I really don't have many ideas on that part)


	3. A Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time in a long while, a human came to this forgotten place and meets the beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was long, at least currently this is the longest thing I've written.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

It was just four years ago when the nightmare began and never ended. Four years of pain and confusion, being totally unfamiliar with everything that's happening. 

He still remembers it like it was yesterday.

Steven was panicking, he knows what he saw in the mirror, but no, that can't be real. It was just a nightmare, right?

He doesn't have horns and spikes all over his body, there's _definitely_ no pink tail flailing around him, and as much as he could feel how sharp his claws are, it isn't _real,_ is it? He doesn't even know what happened to him. He just feels wrong, horribly wrong. He doesn't want to look into the mirror again.

He doesn't want to confirm that this was real.

Everyone he knew rushed into his room, many faces stared at him. Some were in shock, others were horrified and close to tears, and there's one that was concerned, but still hesitant.

All of them are in one way or another feared what he had become.

Pearl was the one who stepped forward, if she could show her face, she would've been in tears.

She kneeled down in front of him, trying to look at his face. He kept turning his head away. Not wanting them to look at him.

Her voice echos through the armour, "Steven, we're so sorry we never told you about this." Her head turns slightly, her voice quiet, "Your mother... used to be like this before you were born."

"Wait, _all of you_ knew about _this?_" He gestured to himself, "You knew what this is and all of you didn't even _think _to say **anything!**" His eyes glowed a bright acidic pink.

He's just lashed out at everyone, the gems for keeping this secret, his dad not even telling him that his mom used to look like _this_.

The person he was most angry at was his own mother. Why? Why did she even do this? What did she even do for this to happen to her? Why did she decide to have him? 

He remembers the story Pearl told him about why his mom gave up her form. It used to make him feel like he was special, that somehow after everything that she'd been through. She would rather experience being a normal human than a gem.

But now knowing that his mom used to be like this. It just shattered everything he thought he knew about her.

Is that the reason why he exists, just so his mother could live through him? Just so she wouldn't be affected? For him to solve her problems because she couldn't and just **gave up!**

He stormed to what used to be Rose's room (while trying to ignore the feeling of claws scraping the smooth floor).

The only thing everyone else heard after he left the room, was the howls of pain and anger from a teen who was supposed to be celebrating that day.

* * *

Today should've been a day of celebration, but no, it's just a reminder of how long he's been like this.

He's just sitting in his room, watching the rose from afar, shut away from everyone else. The only good thing he could think about was that his dad was going to bring something special to eat at dinner.

He may be half gem and doesn't need to eat that much but _still_ he's half human and munching on the same vegetables, fruits and the occasional bird or rabbit, gets pretty tiring fast.

He stood from his bed, his feet now used to the claws and using his long spiked tail to support himself. He went torwards the table where the rose was.

The rose itself is kept under a glass dome, still glowing after all these years, yet it seems close to fading. He watches as one of its petals slowly falls, swaying softly as it does. Until it reaches the smooth surface of the table, when it fades from existence as if it never existed to begin with.

He wonders if that would be his fate, alone and forgotten. Slowly dying as the last of whatever remained of the castle crumbled before him. Not being able to escape, trapped under an invisible dome keeping him from the outside world.

He was snapped back to reality by a voice from the ball of crystal right next to the rose.

"Good morning Steven,"she greeted," would you like to see what could happen in the next hour?"

Sapphire's the only gem he allows to be here, mostly because she could see the future. Her predictions have been wrong a couple times, but he can't blame her for the world being unpredictable at times.

"Is my dad going to be back by then?"

The crystal ball glows alongside the circular gem that's on the stand of the crystal ball.

She shows his dad safely home, wearing the cloak he always wore when he went out to the village with a basket in hand.

Except there's someone behind him, a stranger lurking in the shadows, he doesn't know if they're a human or a gem. If it's the latter they aren't getting in, but if it's a human.

There hasn't been a human in the castle besides his dad. _He_ hasn't even been around other humans nor seen different people in a long time.

He starts to pace back and forward, his thoughts swirling around him once more, What if they find out about him? What would happen to dad? The gems? What if they try to hurt them? What if-

"Steven!" He stopped pacing, turning his head torwards Sapphire.

"You're doing it again," said Sapphire, concern in her voice, "what were you thinking about?"

"Nothing that should even concern you!" He snapped at her. The second he realized what he just did, he ran straight to the garden, getting himself lost in the maze of roses.

He needed to be alone once more.

* * *

The forest is beautiful during this time of the year, the leaves are still a luscious shade of green, even with autumn starting in a few weeks. The midmorning sun shines through the leaves, revealing the occasional bird, sweetly chirping as it flies by.

Connie couldn't believe that the villagers have never even set foot in this place before, it's so peaceful and it looks like something out of a story.

The only thing she wonders as she strolls through, is the lack of wildlife, sure there're a couple of birds and she's seen a few rabbits and hares hopping around, but anything larger than those, she hadn't seen.

She probably shouldn't push her luck, after all, the rumors _could_ be true and the reason why there aren't that many animals is because they're a bunch of beasts prowling around the forest.

She suddenly remembers why she was here in the first place.

She tried to follow the cloaked figure, but somehow managed to lose sight of them and then got distracted by the beauty of the forest.

She focuses on trying to locate where they could've gone. Looking for footprints or trying to find a path she can follow.

After a few minutes of thorough searching, she finds a path, it's old and worn from time. It could lead her to wherever the person went, so she followed it.

It took her a while, but eventually the path did lead to somewhere.

She didn't expect that it would lead to _this._

A castle, a huge castle at the far end of the woods. How did _anyone_ forget about this place? There's nothing really stopping them from going here, so why?

She shakes her head, she should focus on getting answers first. She goes torwards the two tall doors and was about to knock, but just as she was about to do it, in the corner of her eye, she noticed that a purple blur ran past her.

As much as she loves a good mystery, can the people who live in this place, just stop running and hiding for a few minutes.

She sighs and goes into the direction where the other figure ran into.

She sees a garden and there's only a few plants. It only has some vegetables growing and some fruit-bearing trees. The biggest part of it is a hedge maze made from roses.

She grabs a handful of leaves from the trees and goes into the maze. They would help a little bit in finding the way to the center.

She's going to get her answers in there, she can feel it.

....

Finally, after a mix of dead ends and looping paths, she manages to get to the center. Hopefully the hedges are tall enough that the wind wouldn't blow the leaves away.

There's a fountain in the center, a stone statue of a gem with her eyes closed is on a star-shaped pedestal. It has four miniature figures of the gem surrounding the bigger statue. The water seems to come from the larger statue's eyes as if she's eternally crying.

She sees... someone, sitting at the other side of the fountain. She can see the long crystalline spikes on their back, their messy, dark pink mane covering some of the sharp crystals and a _tail?_ It's long and covered with thorn like spikes, moving back and forth in the water.

She takes a step closer, maybe they're a gem that needs help? It would explain the whole cloak thing, but she swore the hand she saw was human.

She takes a few more steps, she could now see what she thought was water, clearly isn't. It has a light shade of pink to it, but still it's a fluid similar to water.

She takes a seat at the base of the fountain, the only sound between them is repetitive sound of the gem's tail swishing around in running water.

The gem is still silent, they still haven't noticed her. She wonders if she should be the first to talk, but if she's being honest with herself. She is afraid of them.

The whole thing she's doing feels unreal when she thinks about it, she followed a complete stranger into the woods, somehow managed to find a castle, and now she's in a maze staring at a gem that for some reason, has pink spikes on their body.

Her breathing's a bit faster, but she doesn't notice.

And that's not mentioning what could've happened to her, she could've gotten completely lost in the woods, wild animals could've mauled her and no one would even know! What was she thinking?!

"**Hey!**" A voice growled right behind her, she just now realized that she's been breathing rapidly, and it's loud enough that someone noticed.

"**Who's...**there?" She doesn't hear them, she's still staring right at them. Their pink eyes are staring right at her, as if a predator found its prey.

She feels trapped under their gaze. Those dark eyes piercing through her.

It doesn't help that they're taller than her by a few feet.

It doesn't help that she could now see that they have sharp claws on both hands and feet.

It doesn't help that they moved on all fours and they're moving torwards the way she came through.

And it doesn't help her fears that they literally have fangs, tusks, and horns that are _definitely_ going to be used on her.

They're blocking the way, and they're now standing right in front of her. She has no way to escape and even if she wanted to she's frozen in fear.

She's now standing and she's shaking like a leaf. She remembers the rumors. In hindsight, she really regrets not listening to them now.

She tried to run.

She forgot there's a fountain behind her.

She trips, falls and hits her head.

There's blackness surrounding her vision. She doesn't notice her wound healing or the fact that the person in front of her is panicking.

A different voice shouts, but at this point Connie is close to unconsciousness and couldn't hear her.

"Steven! What happened?!" The purple gem that just appeared looked shocked and confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of this.


	4. A Girl in the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie's in the castle, what or who will she see there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, it's been a while since I last updated this. Sorry, got a bit carried away with all the corrupted steven ideas.

Connie was running.

There's a storm, the wind was threatening to uproot the trees surrounding her. Lightning and thunder clashed constantly, lighting her way through the forest, but the rain was getting heavier as time passes.

She kept going until she saw it, a castle, looming in the distance. She used all her strength to run towards it. The storm was getting stronger, almost flooding the forest.

She reached the two tall doors of the castle, water was rising, it covered her feet in cold rainwater.

She kept knocking on the door, hoping, _pleading_ that someone would let her in. There was a figure with pink eyes watching by the window.

Water was close to her head now, her body completely submerged still she kept banging at the door.

She was fully engulfed by water when the doors finally opened.

* * *

Connie woke up, coughing up some water. She was wondering where she was when she noticed that her glasses aren't on her face.

But she can see clearly, she can see herself from the dresser mirror a few feet away from her, she can see the carvings on the toy chest close to the bed, and she can see that she's in a room more fit for a princess, soft pinks cover the walls and plenty of crystals are present in the decor. She blinked once, twice. She still has crystal clear vision.

_ 'How? How did that happened?' _She thought scratching her head, '_The last thing I remember is tripping into a fountain.'_

She looked around and saw a nightstand with her glasses and her satchel on it, there was a faint wet spot underneath them and a large crack on one of the lenses.

'_How would she even explain this to her parents? Hi mom, I'm not wearing my glasses right now, they got this huge crack on the lenses, but don't worry! I can now see perfectly because my eye sight miraculously got fixed when I fell into a fountain of pink water!'_

She muffled her screams of frustration using the soft pillow behind her. After a solid five seconds of screaming, she put the pillow back on the bed and laid on it.

"Okay, you can worry about your parents later. Right now, you're in a castle...that nobody has ever seen or heard of before, and you're technically trespassing, so maybe apologizing to whoever this place belongs to might be a good start," she sat upright, gears in her mind turning as she plans her actions, "plus maybe I can find out more about the mystery surrounding this place...and the gem I saw."

She got off the bed, somewhat determined to know more about this place and make some sort of connection to this castle, the gem, and the village.

Connie was about to leave the room, when she heard something.

She hears giggling near her, it's close, as if whatever or _whoever's_ making the sound was in the room with her.

She notices that it came from the direction of the toy chest. Curious at its contents, she walks up to it, hoping that it was just a toy.

As soon as she was a few steps close to it, the chest opens and sprung out a tiny pink blur that immediately latched on to her.

Well she was right, it _was _a toy. She didn't expect it to be _alive_ though.

"Hi there, stranger," the pink doll beamed at her, long stretchy arms still encircled Connie's whole body," My name's Spinel! I haven't seen _a human_ like you before! What's your name?"

She was about to scream when the doll's hand got large enough to cover her mouth, "Boy, this human sure is a scaredy cat!" One of her magenta button eyes somehow _winks_ at some imaginary audience.

"I heard _all_ about your plan to know more about the castle," she explains all while keeping a sweet stitched smile," so let's have a fun little exchange. I'll let you go and I'll even answer some of your questions, if and only if, you promise to be my best friend." Spinel put some emphasis on the word 'friend'.

Connie stared at Spinel, her eyes? are pleading and her mouth curved into a frown. Connie begins to talk and Spinel shrinks her hand, "Okay I'll be your friend! Just, _please_ put me down." Her arms finally drop, she takes some deep breaths, meanwhile Spinel looks so happy that she would probably burst from her seams if she could.

_'Well it's not like she had that much choice, but hey at least someone here is friendly, though she really needs to keep her distance,' _Connie thought while watching Spinel.

"So Spinel, first question as your friend, What _are _you?" Connie asked, mind now focused on getting answers.

The doll giggled as her arms shrunk back to their original length, "Well you haven't even answered my question, silly!" Spinel looked at the satchel on the nightstand, slightly opened and showing her notes, "But you seem to be a smart cookie, why don't you figure it out."

Connie examined the pink doll in front of her, heart-shaped buns on her head are made of yarn, light pink dress with little puffy sleeves, the dress having different patches of cloth with stars all over it, everything about her says that she's a toy, but one part on her seems out of place—a gem on her chest, cut perfectly into the shape of a heart.

Connie couldn't hide the surprise in her voice, "You're a gem?!"

"Ding ding ding! The human got it right on the first guess!" Spinel enthusiastically told Connie, "I may _look_ different from the other gems, but as long as I have this," she points to the crystal heart on her chest, "and I'm still jumping, and stretching and playing around," the pink gem emphasized each word by performing their actions, "I'm a bonafide gem at heart!" Spinel got near Connie's ear and whispered, "Pun intended."

"That just raises even more questions!" Connie ran to her satchel, grabbing her somewhat wet notes and begins to scribble down some of the stuff she learned while asking Spinel.

"How are you able to stretch your limbs like that? Can you shapeshift like other gems? Are there other gems like you? What's with all the stars on your outfit?" she was stopped by a hand touching her shoulder.

"Gee, that's a lot of questions, you can be a real chatterbox once you're curious huh?" Spinel started to walk back and forth, little squeaks made by her shoes as she lists off the questions, " to answer your questions, my stretchy powers are from my gem, no I can't, I can only grow and shrink, what exactly do you mean by other gems?"

"I mean... are the gems here in this castle," Connie paused, thoughts went back to a pink, spike-covered gem, _"different_ in a way?"

"What do you mean by that?" She stopped walking, glaring at Connie with squinting eyes.

"I don't- I mean- I've seen gems big and small and they're not like _this. _I've never seen a gem like you or that _other_ pink gem anywhere but here!"

"Who else did you see here?" she gasped, remembering something then focused back to the human in front of her, snatching her notes, "Did you see St-"

The questions stopped when both of them heard the door handle being opened. 

The door creaks open, revealing a suit of armor. A star is engraved on the chest plate, and it had a white oval gem on the helmet. The visor was open revealing that there's no one inside the armor. Without thinking Connie threw the closest thing at it.

Which was Spinel.

With the reflexes of a fighter, the suit of armor effortlessly dodged the 'attack.' Spinel sprung back after hitting the wall, papers scattered all around them.

"I'm so sorry!" Spinel ran away, looking back once to see the mess she made and sprinted away from them.

"Well, I _was_ supposed to check to see if you're awake," a voice echoed through the armor, gentle and motherly, "but I see you've met Spinel."

Connie couldn't focus right now, she's still collecting the scattered papers; she felt cold metal on her hands, "There, the rest of the papers." 

"Thank you so much and I'm so, _so_ sorry I threw Spinel at you, um...what's your name?"

"It's alright, you didn't expect to see me. My name is Pearl," she extended her hand, "and you are?"

"Connie," she used one of her hands to shake Pearl's, the other still clutching her notes.

"Well then, Connie would you like to stay for dinner? We haven't had a guest here in a long time."

'_This is my chance to know more about this place_.' She smiled,"I would love to, Pearl," the teen looked at her gem, '_Why is she also like that?' _

Pearl was a few steps down the hall when Connie shouted, "Wait, I just have a question I'd like you to answer."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry if it's a sore subject, but... what happened to the gems here?"

Pearl froze, hands covering where her mouth would be. She turned to Connie, hands trembling and she ran away, still covering her mouth while her footsteps echoed in the halls.

Connie could only stare at the empty hall. "What happened in this place?"

* * *

Navigating the halls is a bit hard, Connie tried to sketch the layout of the castle on her notes. She's seen stairs leading to a tower, some of the rooms were locked, and the occasional picture of some gems on the wall and the occasional statue of a knight in armor were the only things that differentiates one hall from the other.

Her room is on the east wing of the castle it seems, she was about to go into the west wing when she witnessed something strange.

A candelabra with a red gem at the base is assisting a crystal ball with a blue gem on its stand in getting out of a room. The floor near that room that has faint marks, leading to it and it's the only hall with dust on it.

They seem to be a couple given that as soon as the other one was out, the red gem carries and spins the blue gem around, their laughter can be heard even from where Connie was standing. After that the blue gem glows and shows the other gem something.

They look directly at her.

Connie makes a run towards the stairs. She'll make a visit to that room later. Right now, she's going to be late for dinner.

She sees Pearl starting to go up the stairs when she saw her, "Connie, where have you been? You were almost late for dinner."

"I'm sorry, guess I got lost," she told her, the half-lie easily slipping out of her.

"Well they still haven't arrived yet, let me lead you there," she went to the dinning room with Connie right behind her.

It was huge. She knows she's in a castle, but she was still staring with in awe as she feasts her eyes on her surroundings. 

A golden candelabra hangs over the table, candles lighting the long table below that's filled with all sorts of food, some meat, a lot of fruit and vegetables from the garden, and a cake. The cake itself has a few candles on it, and it's pink with some frosting. There were even some condiments each on a different container.

For such a long table, it seems that she's the only one who would actually sit at it. She sits at the nearest chair, stomach already growling at the sight of food. She does question the need for one in the first place, gems don't eat after all, so why have a vegetable garden? Why cook? Why have a whole dining room?

"O-oh, I didn't know we had a guest," Connie turned around where she saw a person, holding a black cloak, looking somewhat embarrassed. He seemed like he was in his forties, he was balding at the top, but had long hair at the back of his head.

He was the cloaked figure she saw.

"Oh, you're a person," Connie said in a quiet voice.

"Hey, you're a person too y'know," he replied jokingly while taking a seat.

The teen covered her face with her hands, "Why did I say that outloud?" She turned to him, hands messing around with the napkin on the table, "I'm sorry, mister."

"Relax, I was just joking with you, kid," he tried to explain to her, "and you can call me, Mr. Universe or Greg, if you're more comfortable with that."

"Yeah, right as if anyone wants to call you 'Mr. Universe'." A third voice appeared, belonging to a purple gem.

That doesn't look like someone slapped a gem on an object, she looks like some of the quartz soldiers that were 'patrolling' the village, only if they were shorter.

The gem sat far from Greg and was already picking out a mix of food, dousing it with half of each condiment and eating it all in one bite, including the plate.

"Amethyst! That's the third plate this week!" Pearl shouted, her voice echoed through the room.

"You could always get more y'know," she continued to get more food on a different plate. 

"Seriously?! Leave some for the guest you-"

Connie and Greg proceeded to talk to each other while eating as the two gems bicker in front of them.

"Do the gems here need to eat food?" Connie questioned Greg who was still chewing.

The older person swallowed before he could answer, "I mean, it's not that they need to eat, it's just that Amethyst likes to eat food." She looks at them, the purple gem tries to reach for the cake, but is stopped by a metal hand.

"Amethyst, no! That's for-" Pearl paused, unsure of whether Connie knew of Steven and what he is or if she was just someone that managed to stumble upon this place, not knowing anything about them, "...our guest here, yes, we rarely get visitors, so we bake them a nice little welcome cake."

Connie can clearly tell that Pearl's lying, but goes with it anyway, "Thank you so much, you didn't have to do that," she looks at the pink cake again, she guesses the pink gem whose name at the very least she knows starts with a "S" is the one who the cake was for.

"Besides," she looks at her half eaten plate of vegetables, "I think I'm already full. I don't have room for dessert."

"Thank you for that wonderful meal, Pearl and Mister Uni- I mean, Greg," Connie looks outside the window, the moon can be seen through clouds, "but I guess I have to go now." 

"No! I mean, it's late, it's dark, you can't see in this light. Please, stay here for the night, I'll join you in the morning to explain to your family what happened, okay?" Greg said with a worried expression on his face.

She knows her parents wouldn't be back until the end of the month, but that doesn't mean they have to know. Connie makes a show of yawning, "Okay, I'll go back to the room where I was sleeping earlier."

"Do you know the way back? You got lost in the halls earlier." Pearl asked, concern in her voice.

"Yup, I wrote it in my notes, it's the one close to a long mirror," Connie said with a smile, "goodnight Pearl, good night Greg, and goodnight Amethyst."

"Goodnight!"

"Sleep tight!"

"Hope you don't suddenly wake up in the middle of the night!"

She heard Pearl scolding Amethyst again before she went up the stairs.

* * *

A figure sits at the edge of a fountain, moonlight shines on his crystal spikes, pink light sparkling on the pink water behind him while his tail moves back and forth creating ripples that bend the light.

'_Another human, just like-' _he shakes his head, '_no, there's no one like you, what am I thinking?_'

Steven sighs and turns to look at his reflection, the sight of his horns still manage to shock him a bit even after what, four miserable years now?

He thinks back to the human he scared earlier, '_Stars, he was so stupid, how did he even see her as a threat_.'

He remembers the look of absolute horror on her face, she was shaking in fear and when he took his next step, she turned around and tripped on the fountain behind her. It would've been comedic, if not for the fact that saw her head hit the stone.

For a second, there was a streak of crimson on her head then it dissapeared when she went into the water. He pulled her out, careful not to harm her skin with his claws; he had no idea what to do, he's never been around another human in years. It was a good thing that Amethyst found him right then and there.

The purple gem managed to make her cough up some of the water, but she was still unconscious.

"Let's... put her in one of the guest rooms." Steven managed to say.

They were walking to the castle with Amethyst carrying Connie when the gem spoke, "Dude, what even happened back there?"

"I don't-"

"Wanna talk about it," she completed his sentence. She sighed, "Look, I know the whole curse thing makes you not want to talk to us," she looks at him, "but I- I mean we miss being with you, Steven."

There was only silence, so she continued, "And hey, maybe this human would be like the one who would break the curse."

"How? I mean," he looks at her sleeping form, "I don't even know her."

"I don't really know how, but this would be a step closer to being free, right?"

He may not answer, but it did make him feel a bit lighter, even for just a moment.

'_Maybe there's hope for me afterall_,' he thought while entering the castle, he asks Amethyst to hand the human to him. He carried her to one of the guest rooms.

As his mind returns to the present, he notes how high the moon is and goes back inside the castle to get some rest.

Even as he passed through the halls, he senses that something wasn't right. He ignores the feeling, it was probably nothing.

His clawed hands tiredly pushed down the door handle, he just wanted to get to his bed and-

The human was in his room. _Why did he ignore it?_

Not only was she _in his room, _she was only a few seconds away from putting her hands on the glass dome, the look on her face says it all.

She did not expect him to be here. _She was guilty. She invaded his space. She almost-_

He couldn't control what happened next, as if rage has taken full control of his body.

**"****Get out!"** he snarled, baring his fangs at her as he goes towards the rose seeing its pink glow, still there, still present. He stepped towards the frightened teen, fear in her eyes reflecting his image.

A monster with fangs and tusks as sharp as the spikes on his body, eyes glowing a bright acidic pink, walking on all fours like the animal he is.

There was no doubt about it, he is and always will be a _**Beast.**_

And in that moment of hesitation, Connie ran out and she ran far enough that she didn't catch a choked whimper from the hybrid that echoed through the halls.

"I'll never be more than _a beast._"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I would get the next chapter done this December.
> 
> Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments!


	5. Chased and Saved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some get chased, some are chasing after somebody and two save each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to update two times in one month. Yay! 
> 
> Anyways this chapter has a some mild blood in it.

Connie was curious, she's been curious her whole life and even now as she prepares to go into the gem's room. She still wants to go through it.

She was curious about "S", this castle, the other gems living here, and the only other human in this castle.

Honestly, he's probably the one who is most out of place. He's a human who for some reason is living _here_ in a castle with gems who take the form of objects.

Who wouldn't be curious to know more about them all?

But right now, she's standing at the door, a push on the handle was all she needed to do in order to peel back just a bit of mystery from this place and one of the gems living here.

In the back of her mind, she knows that she's entering someone's bedroom to look at their stuff and it's wrong—there is a part of her screaming that she shouldn't do it, but seeing that there's a faint pink light under the door does make a person question what could be causing it.

And she'll keep being the cat; she was always satisfied with the answers she found.

Even after everything that happened, she didn't regret following him into the woods.

With shaking hands, Connie opens the door.

Well, it's not exactly how she imagined the room would look like given how the hall outside looks like.

It's big, spacious, but besides a bed, a bookshelf, a wardrobe, and a table that has some items on it with a chair underneath it.There isn't much in this room, no claw marks, no destroyed furniture, just a really unkept bedroom.

The bed's a mess with pillows and blankets in a giant pile on the center of the bed, and the books on the bookshelf have dust all over them.

As Connie examines the contents of the room her thoughts wander with possibilities once more, '_Could they be half human or are they like Amethyst and like doing stuff that humans do?'_

She stops for a second to revisit her last thought, '_If they were half human, would that explain their appearance? Wait, no, that doesn't make any sense!'_

She shakes her head, "Think about them later, I should focus on learning _some_ new information about them."

The only thing in this room that even looks like it was given any sort of care or attention—is a glowing pink flower on the table.

"A rose?" It's glowing under a glass dome, a few petals have fallen from it. She takes a closer look and she sees one petal fall.

It's almost mesmerizing, really. Watching the petal fall, sway from side to side, seeing its glow fade until the moment it hits the ground-

The door swings open.

The pink gem is on the other side.

If she could tell her past self to not to go in this day, she probably would've listened, but right now she's trying to find a way out of this situation she found herself in.

A flurry of emotions cross their face ranging from shock to betrayal and it settled on rage, their eyes burning with pink.

**"Get out!"**

She would, if she could, but her body isn't listening to her mind right now. She could only stare as they got closer, walking on all fours. They look like they were about to pounce and maul her, but-

Their eyes, glow somewhat dimmed, almost seemed...scared? She doesn't know why they stopped, but she saw an opening. Her body finally responded and ran away as fast as she could.

Away from them, away from this castle.

* * *

There's a doll wandering the halls, thinking about the many things she and her new friend could do.

She was in the middle of going to her room when she heard it.

Spinel heard the echoes of Steven shouting and only seconds after the sound of someone running.

The girl past by her while running towards her room, she runs out, satchel in hand.

She can't _leave,_ not right now, not after she promised.

The doll ran after her, hoping to reach her before she gone out the doors. She stretches her arms, wanting to hold her back or close the doors, but it was too late— She's gone; another friend was lost.

She didn't even know what her name was.

Spinel begins to walk back to the human's room when it hits her, the other gems.

They were around at night.

And her friend is alone.

She chased after her, her tiny doll body stretching to even open the door. She was about to go into the forest when something shocked her.

"What?" Spinel looked at her hands, little bright lines appeared and faded.

She tried to force her way through, it was affecting her form, lines were glowing across her body. Everything was getting fainter, there was a distant sound and then-

She was stopped by a clawed hand grabbing her and pulling her away.

* * *

Steven heard the doors of the castle slam shut, '_She left. She got scared. I scared her._'

Possibly the only person that could help all of them just ran out the door.

'_Why do I keep messing up? She could be gone, she could tell other people, other gems about me.'_

He's heard stories from Pearl, humans and gems that came to hunt or see the so-called "beast." Their attempts always failed, no gem managed to see his mother and no human that came to hunt or see ever came back.

One human did see her and came back, he didn't mean to enter the castle at all. He was just lost and looking for directions.

That was his father, and so far he was the only human that entered the castle.

Until her.

She was different from the people in those stories, she didn't know who he was, she was curious about the world around her, and maybe...just maybe they could've been friends.

If he didn't scare her off _twice._

He sighs and looks at the dusty bookshelf full of books about the world outside the castle, he always wanted to know more, he hasn't been around other people since he was a kid.

He looks at the window, there's a storm coming, it's late at night, and she's in the forest, without any sort of light or weapon. Alone.

Alone with _them._

_ Why did I told her to get out? This was the worst time. _

"I have to make this right," he steels himself for what's about to come.

He remembers being able to cross the threshold to the outside world when he was a child.

He doesn't know if it could affect him now, but at that moment, he doesn't care what happens to him.

He got out of the castle, ignoring the shouts of the gems behind him.

There's a tiny pink figure near the entrance to the forest, '_Spinel? Why was she here?_'

He can see her trying to get out, lines were starting to spread on her form.

"No don't!"

She isn't stopping, he ran towards her; grabbed her by the back of her dress and pulled her away.

Steven can see glowing pink lines on his hand that travelled through his body.

He expected to be shocked and for him to not be able to move his hand afterwards, but he can see his hand on the other side of the dome, still shining with lines of bright pink.

He wasn't hurt, besides the glowing lines on his body. It was closer to a tingling sensation if anything. He can feel the cool breeze from the forest as he moves his fingers.

He can get out of the dome.

He glanced at the forest, even from here he can hear their growls.

He can still get to her.

Despite the shouts of his family getting louder and closer, he forced himself to go through. A brief moment of fear passed him as a memory resurfaced, the sensation near identical.

It was gone as soon as he completely passed through, he took a second to take it all in, the familiar feelings he's almost forgotten.

And then he ran as fast as he could, at least now he can come back to this later.

He can see perfectly in the dark, that's one good thing about this form; as he ran deeper into the woods, he hoped he could find her.

Before it was too late.

* * *

The deeper she goes the darker it gets, the once beautiful forest is now surrounded by darkness and with no light to guide her, she gets lost in the woods.

The girl once she thought she was far enough, started to walk slowly, attempting to retrace her steps. The road was long gone and she couldn't see due to the storm clouds covering the moon.

Connie's regretting this decision, it's dark, the wind's howling through the forest, and it looks like it's about to rain. She was about to go back to the castle when she heard a bunch of leaves rustling near her.

"It's probably just the wind," she said to herself, eyes darting around to find whatever made the sound.

A branch snaps and she turns behind her to see a glimpse of yellow in between the trees staring, unblinking, and it's getting closer-

She forced herself to run, she won't freeze in place again. Her heart's hammering in her chest as she sees more eyes the farther she goes, all of them staring at her, all of them _chasing_ her.

Lightning lighted her path for a second, she saw something in the distance, a clearing of sorts. Maybe she could call for help somehow? Maybe there's something there that could use to protect herself?

The rain started to pour, she covers her head using the satchel. Distant sounds of scared yipping are heard as thunder boomed.

She hoped that it would _at least_ scare them off, but a glance behind her shows the answer.

They weren't. In fact, there are _more_ of them now.

She gets there and almost trips on something, the hilt of a sword? A flash of lightning confirms what she saw, an old rusty sword.

She has no time to wonder why there are weapons in this place. Connie pulls the sword from the ground and runs towards the center of the clearing, almost slipping on the puddles of water.

They have to be some wild animals chasing her, right? Wolves, maybe? She heard them growl, yip, and she saw yellow orbs staring at her.

She could probably scare them off, if not...

Well, she has the sword and some idea of how to use one.

The eyes surround her, some the color of flames blazing through the darkness, though she didn't expect the other colors.

Or to see what was actually chasing her.

Each lightning strike revealed the creatures as they emerged from the shadows of the forest, they were much bigger than her, bodies were full of sickly discolored spots. As they got closer, they reminded her of something.

Long sharp spikes.

Messy manes.

Claws and horns.

_The gem in the castle_.

_I__s this what happened to them? What could've happened? How did it happen? What-_

She was brought back to reality with something cawing. She noticed others in the air, flying over her like vultures.

One of the creatures with horns coming out where its eyes should be pounces, and with a scream she closes her eyes stabs it.

She takes a peak, it's stabbed right at the throat, the tip of the sword coming out from its neck.

It tries to make a sound and before she could think about what she'd done, it dissapears, leaving a purple gem with green stripes.

The others were growling.

They were surrounding her, closing her in.

No space to escape, too many to fight.

They were getting louder, snarls and caws mixing together with the thunder and rain.

She did thought she would be mauled to death in the forest.

As the beasts got closer, her body froze in place. Tears streaming down as she accepts her fate. Only one thought crosses her mind.

'_I wish I could've told my parents that I love them one last time,_' she closed her eyes, holding the sword in a feeble attempt to block their attacks. 

She braced herself for the pain that would come. She hears a shout and...

...

...

...

Something was blocking them.

She can hear them hit whatever barrier was surrounding her.

There wasn't even rain dropping on her, so she's completely covered.

There's someone near her.

She takes a peek, opening one of her eyes.

Connie is currently in some sort of bubble, it's shielding her from the dangers outside of it. It's a dark shade of pink with spikes on the outside.

She looks at whoever saved her.

The gem! They're here?! Why would they be here?

They were breathing heavily, she doesn't know if the bubble was hard for them to make or if it's because they ran after her.

Either way they were tired and the bubble would most likely burst if they stayed for too long.

She takes a deep shaky breath and asks them, "Can we move from this spot?"

They look at her, their eyes still glowing, not as intense when they were angry at her. They finally speak and their- no, _his_ voice was softer than she thought it would be, "Yeah, I think we could."

They started to push the bubble after the gem made the spikes smaller. They were running soon after when the pack outside chased them.

She can tell from the occasional glitchiness that it couldn't be summoned for long. Once or twice it dissipate and the flying gems would swoop down and almost grab them.

The bubble would be back, but even she can tell it was draining for him to do it.

The beasts _were_ starting to give up in their chase, but they _still_ can't see the castle and the bubble won't last forever.

She sees the path leading towards the castle, "Wait, stop! I can see the path!"

He stopped almost immediately and let her push the bubble towards where they needed to go.

A few minutes of walking later and they look around them, no bird-like gems and no beastly gems are in sight, well besides him of course.

The full moon is shining through the clouds, lighting the path, rain is now a light drizzle, and there's no other being in sight besides the two of them.

Connie turns to look at him and she can clearly see the lines of stress on his face and his eyes drooping.

"You should take a break," she thought, not knowing she also said it quietly. She stops walking for a moment.

A moment of silence passes; he stops walking and drops the bubble. It felt like a weight was lifted off him.

He breathes in the cool night air, a small smile forms when drops of water landed on his face. Looking up he sees the moon shining its soft light.

Behind him, Connie just stares. She can see his tail slowly swishing, guess he's content, happy even.

She takes a glance at the sword in her hand and keeps it close to her. Sure there aren't any of them _now, _but they might come back.

Her hands are shaking, she did that. She _did_ that. It's physical form was destroyed, because of _her. _

'_It was self defense,_' she thought, but it doesn't stop her mind from thinking what could've happened to it. She shakes her head ans starts to focus on something else, like the fact that his tail stopped moving, pointing up instead.

In fact, he keeps looking around, growling a bit. His hand shielding her as he searches. She holds the sword in front of her, shaking hands almost dropping it.

It got darker all of a sudden, Connie's grip on the weapon in her hands tighten as she fumbles in the dark. Deafening cawing overwhelms her ears and she struggles to resist covering them, sword clattering to the ground. She can see him walking on all fours, circling her, bright pink eyes staring back at all of the eyes in the forest.

They all get closer, closing in on them.

At once they all attack. He claws through them mercilessly, each strike leaving only the gems behind. Some of the bird-gems swooped down to hurt him with their talons, getting a few scratches on him. He bites some of them, forms immediately gone and gems clatter on the ground.

While fighting the bird-gems, Connie can see the other beastly gems about to pounce on him. Even as her body shakes, she grabs the sword and stabs one just as it was about to sink its fangs into him, a blue-green gem falls near her.

One of the other gems managed to bite his left arm, a red-pink fluid spurts from the bite marks left behind. The gem disappearing after being stabbed by a sword.

He can see the girl's face, tired and scared. She stares at the open wound on his arm, she was reaching out touch him and was about to say something, but he turned away from her. He'll deal with it later. He _has_ to keep fighting.

There were only a few of them left, the others ran away after they've fought back, but after fighting for a while he can feel it, every bite they took, every scratch, the sharp pain in his left arm. The adrenaline he had is gone and exhaustion replaced it. He was standing using the last of his energy.

His ears perked up when he heard it. Footsteps, he can hear footsteps if he focused, whatever's making them were getting closer.

He looked at her again, sword in hand, trying to focus on surviving. There's fear in her eyes, but she's still fighting.

There's a rustling behind them, he turns around wanting to defend both himself and her, but falls to the ground, clutching his bloody arm.

Looking up, she's in front of him. Prepared to attack the possible threat. He wants to get up. He should protect her. He was the reason why she's almost hurt. He should be the one getting punished.

The last thing he remembers before blacking out was someone holding him, and the sounds of gems being poofed.

* * *

Once they got back to the castle, Connie had some explaining to do to the rest of them she told Amethyst and Greg while they helped her with carrying Steven back.

When they got to the threshold, Connie saw Amethyst being poofed and Greg grabbed her gem and pocketed it before continuing to bring Steven back to the castle.

Pearl had already grabbed some of the healing water from the fountain and put it in a bowl. She tended to some of the scratches on Connie's body while Greg brought Steven to his room.

"So, what exactly happened that we end up finding him passed out with scratches _and_ bites all over his body?" Pearl asked while she drops the cloth into the pinkish fluid.

Her tone almost reminds Connie of her mother when she scolds her, almost sounding angry while being clear that she's worried for her.

She expects it to sting when the cloth hits her skin, but she doesn't feel any pain, in fact it's gone. She looks at her arm, the scratches were magically gone like she was never hurt in the first place.

"Connie?"

"Oh! Sorry... we were attacked by some...creatures," she paused. Memories coming back to her.

Running for her life.

Almost dying.

Stabbing through a gem.

"They...They were gems! I had to defend myself! I-I didn't know what they were!"

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry I ran away and caused someone to get hurt!" 

"Connie."

She stopped, she was pacing again, her hands clutching a part of her clothing, tears have fallen from her eyes, and she looks at the knight in front of her, she was down at her height, kneeling and facing her.

Judging by her voice, she wasn't angry at her. She doesn't know why she isn't. She disobeyed her. Someone got _hurt_ because of her.

"Please don't blame yourself for this."

"But-"

She shushed her and explained, "You didn't know what would happen. We didn't explain what the consequences were if it happened and you had no idea about everything that's happening here, didn't you?"

Connie nods her head, eyes looking at the side.

"How about this, tomorrow we'll try to explain everything, answer some of your questions as honestly as we can. How does that sound?"

The girl could only mutter an "okay" before hugging the suit of armor. She hugged back, it wasn't as cold as it was the first time she touched her.

"You still need some rest, it's past midnight," Pearl said while standing up.

Connie looked at the bowl with the soaked cloth in it, "Could I bring it to my room, I still have some scratches on some places."

"Sure, just bring it down when you wake up."

"Thank you."

While going up the stairs, she notices Greg _and_ Amethyst coming out of the west wing.

They said goodnight to her before going down the stairs. 

No one is in his room besides him, it seems. She looked at the hall and wondered something as she was walking towards his room.

'_Gems don't bleed. Was that blood? It was red, but almost pinkish for some reason? Is he half-human?_'

She got to the door and knocked softly. She still didn't want to let the others know she was still awake.

She waited, a few seconds passed, nothing. She knocked again, a bit louder this time, she was looking to her right to see if anyone's coming.

She was about to leave when she heard a faint "Come in."

With one hand holding the bowl, the other hand, somewhat trembling, opened the door.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes looking downward, clutching his arm. He was still bleeding, though he did have a ripped cloth covering his left arm.

She should at the very least thank him for protecting her and apologize for being in his room earlier.

Connie walked towards the center of the room, with a deep breath she says, "I'm sorry."

That makes him look at her, almost surprised and she continued, "I should've asked before going in and looking through your room. I never should've gone inside in the first place."

The bowl in her hands is shaking as she speaks, "A-And I got you hurt, so please," she got close and put the bowl near the bed, "can I make it up to you? I promise I won't do it again."

He was silent, staring at her with those pink eyes and then he started to unwrap his arm revealing the marks, that were smaller than when she saw them before.

She was about to question it, but he probably wanted it to get over it quick, so she grabbed the cloth and gently pressed it against his skin.

He thrashed around trying not to howl in pain. She quickly took it off, thinking about why it could've hurt him.

"Stay still, _please,_ you’re lucky it wasn’t deep enough to...," she stopped and pressed it again after he calmed down.

"Well, I wouldn’t exactly be _hurt,_ if you haven’t run off into the forest," he grumbled. 

"And _who_ told me to get out?"

"Well, I wouldn’t have shouted at you if you weren’t in my room in the first place."

She opened her mouth to retort, but he was right and continued to soak the cloth instead.

They were both silent for a while, Connie looking at the wound slowly closing as more time passes while Steven's just thinking.

'_This is wrong. She shouldn't feel forced to do this_,' he looked at her a couple of times, he can tell all of this is completely new to her.

It was his fault why she was here in the first place, she should leave before she could get herself hurt or worse.

"I...honestly understand if you want to leave and forget about this place," he said breaking the silence.

"What? No! I mean, I would like to know more about this castle, but I kinda want to know you better too."

"What? Why? I understand wanting to know more about the castle, but _me?_ I scared you twice! You were horrified at me! Why would- Why would you even want to see _me_ again?"

"Because, you're not as bad as you think you are."

Connie looked him in the eyes, "You could have left me back there. You could've just stayed here in this castle as I fled, but you _didn't. _You went out of your way to find me and fought them."

He kept staring at her, mouth opening a bit, wanting to say something, but he let her continue.

"We never really got to properly know each other with all the shouting and fainting," she stood up and put out her hand, "so let me introduce myself first, my name is Connie Maheswaran and you are?"

He chuckled and she saw him smile for the first time as he shook her hand with his other arm, "I’m Steven. Steven Universe."

She smiled back at him, "Thank you for saving me then, Steven."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, it only took 5 chapters, but they finally spoke more than a few words to each other and learned each other's names.
> 
> The next chapters are going to be them spending time together.


End file.
